Population 349 (2011) Civil parish Pendleton Country England Shire county Lancashire Dialling code 01200 | OS grid reference SD756395 Region North West Sovereign state United Kingdom District Ribble Valley UK parliament constituency Ribble Valley | |
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Pendleton is a small village and civil parish in Ribble Valley, within the county of Lancashire, England. It is close to the towns of Whalley and Clitheroe. The parish lies on the north west side of Pendle Hill below the Nick o' Pendle. The village is just off the A59, Liverpool to York main road, since the construction of the Clitheroe By-Pass. Older roads through the parish include one from Clitheroe to Whalley which passes through the Standen area and another to Burnley which passes Pendleton Hall.
Contents
Map of Pendleton, UK
Pendleton Brook runs down the centre of Main Street in the village. The village pub, the Swan with Two Necks won the Campaign for Real Ale's (CAMRA) national pub of the year award (2013).
According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, the parish has a population of 349, an increase from 203 in the 2001 census.
The parish adjoins the other Ribble Valley parishes of Clitheroe, Mearley, Sabden, Wiswell, Barrow and Little Mitton. Higher areas of the parish, west of the village are part of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
History
The brief details of the Blackburnshire hundred in the Domesday survey, mention Pendleton with King Edward holding half a hide of land here.
Wymondhouses (an old farm in the south of the parish) was purchased in 1667 by the Nonconformist preacher Thomas Jollie. He had a meeting-place licensed in 1672, later building a chapel that was still in-use until the 1860s.
Pendleton also has an interesting history related to traditional folk customs and the witchcraft persecutions. A book was written on this subject entitled The Pendle Witches by William Harrison Ainsworth, published 1849. Doreen McGlashan, born Doreen Wilson, a Pendleton native (now living in Australia, aged 92) states that as a child in the 1920s there was frequent talk of witches andwitchcraft in the village, and that she & her siblings were kept indoors on certain Saturdays because of "witches Sabbaths" happening in the town on those days. She also recounts large May Day celebrations in her youth which included dancing around a maypole, and states that as a girl she specifically remembers "pretty girls" often being suspected of witchcraft by the villagers. Most likely all such folk beliefs and witchcraft stories have by now been forgotten or lost by the residents of Pendleton, except perhaps by people who possess family lore dating back to the early 20th century.
Governance
Pendleton was once a township in the ancient parish of Whalley. This became a civil parish in 1866, forming part of the Clitheroe Rural District from 1894. Parts of the parish transferred to Sabden on its creation in 1904, however the area around Coldcoats was added in 1935. Since 1974 it has formed part of the Borough of Ribble Valley.
Along with Wiswell, Barrow (since 2015), Mearley and Worston, the parish forms the Wiswell and Pendleton ward of Ribble Valley Borough Council.